✨ Coach Spotlight: Milena

Milena is a Certified Integral Coach based in South Africa. She has her ICF ACC credentials with over 150 coaching hours and works with a diverse range of clients across the globe.

What motivated you to become a coach?

I have always loved helping people find resolution and/or inspiration through a connected conversation. This showed up throughout my adult years but I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Then during my time in a senior management role, I sought a coach to support me in gaining clarity and building confidence when it came to decision making and trusting my instincts. Through the experience of one-on-one coaching and the transformation that resulted for me, it became clear to me that coaching was the career path I wanted to take.

What was one of your biggest learnings while training to become a coach?

Beyond the lifelong commitment one makes as a coach to one's own ongoing development and self-awareness, during my training I truly came to witness the human-ness of every person, of all people. It didn't matter who I was coaching, observing or facilitating; regardless of their demographic or job title, I could bear witness to their journey without judgement. This allowed me to truly listen and witness, in order to allow the opportunities for growth or learning to emerge in this process.

How does your own experience working as a manager come through when coaching clients who are in managerial roles?

Managers generally have access to a bigger picture understanding of how the company runs day to day with their responsibility being to keep their team/ department performing and operating at the required levels. In my experience as a manager, I learned how to work with duality, leadership, confidence and people, and seeing a coach as well as training as a coach has only enhanced my competency in these concepts. This allows me to readily understand and empathise with clients who are either in or being primed for managerial positions to enhance their performance and potential as managers. It requires working on themselves, which will inevitably have a positive effect on the performance of their team or department, directly or indirectly.

What do you think prevents more professionals from seeking out their own coach?

I believe the perception of coaching is that one requires help and this pokes at the fear of inadequacy that so many tend to harbour. Professional environments also carry high expectations of competency without necessarily supporting a culture of authenticity, learning or encouragement of self-development.

How does your coaching methodology help build confidence amongst your individual clients?

An integral approach is about a deeper and inclusive look at a client and how they see themselves, their lives and the world in relation to the outcomes they want to achieve. It aims to be one of the most comprehensive responses to development. Confidence itself has an integral complexity to it, in that it can show up for development in various ways. From building self-belief, to the capacity to trust your instincts, to clear decision making, to capacity to connect, communicate and collaborate with others, whether personally, professionally or publicly.